SecDef Gates announces surprising cuts in defense budget

Common Sense isn't very Common

January 6th, 2011
4:49 pm

Well at least they are talking about defense cuts. It’s a start

jm

January 6th, 2011
4:53 pm

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/ponzi_socialism_N5xwI2ZD0bi10DOp9wsARM

jm

January 6th, 2011
4:56 pm

Let’s see if he’s willing to cut entitlements. Cut everything, and neither party individually can be blamed.

jm

January 6th, 2011
4:58 pm

Run Mitch Run

http://reason.com/blog/2011/01/05/ny-times-flips-its-whig-over-g

Southern Comfort

January 6th, 2011
5:01 pm

That makes sense, but it suggests that similar or greater increases will be proposed for civilian contributions to federal health-care programs, including perhaps for federal employees.

That’s been going on for years. In the five years I’ve been with the fed, my insurance premiums alone have more than doubled. I think I’m around a 130% increase over the past 5 yrs. It’s not like I have much to choose from either. It’s either pay the increase, or go without coverage.

jm

January 6th, 2011
5:03 pm

On topic – Politico has a good article too

Facing a ballooning federal deficit, Gates was moving quickly to manage inevitable defense cuts to preserve as many investment dollars as possible. In May, he gave a speech at the Eisenhower Library in Kansas, urging the military services to find $100 billion in efficiencies over five years and that they could invest in higher priorities. Later, he asked the Defense Department for an additional $50 billion.

As with his first big setpiece budget showdown with Congress in April 2009, Gates faces immediate resistance to his planned cuts, especially the elimination of the EFV. The Marine Corps’ ability to invade hostile beaches is central to the service’s identity, so its leaders and congressional supporters are bitterly opposed to the loss of the vehicle that permits it to do just that.

jm

January 6th, 2011
5:06 pm

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-01-05/paul-volckers-resignation-volcker-rule-is-a-sad-end-to-a-brilliant-career/full/

Obama goes corporate….

Real Scooter

January 6th, 2011
5:08 pm

Both the Dems and Reps know we the people are tired of their crap and neither have the guts to make the necessary cuts in spending.

TaxPayer

January 6th, 2011
5:08 pm

Well, given this news, I would certainly expect the Republicans to counter with a sizeable tax cut in order to reduce the deficit even more than a meager 78 billion over five years.

heartlandboy

January 6th, 2011
5:10 pm

Hallelujah! About time time starting cutting the pork from the most oversized, bloated, inefficient, wasteful branch of gov’t.
starting with the salary of Captain Jerkoff of the Enterprise, who used our tax-payer’s money to produce sleazy smut videos.

jm

January 6th, 2011
5:10 pm

Entitlements:

the Rivlin-Ryan plan

http://www.american.com/archive/2011/january/two-cheers-for-rivlin-ryan

The plan has two principal features. First, people who turn 65 in 2021 or later would not enroll in existing Medicare. Instead, they would receive vouchers to purchase healthcare in the private market (the voucher amount would equal the average amount of Medicare expenditure per enrollee, growing at the same rate of growth as gross domestic product (GDP) plus 1 percentage point). These vouchers would introduce a meaningful element into the healthcare system, one currently missing from our single-payer Medicare program: price competition. By introducing competition for consumers into the insurance market, the voucher system will pressure insurers to compete on cost while maintaining a high standard of care.

Second, the Rivlin-Ryan plan would establish Medicaid block grants for states. These grants would continue providing states with federal Medicaid, but determine funding evenly by the state’s proportion of low-income residents, growing in future years at gross domestic product plus 1 percent (including adjustments for population growth). In exchange for slower growth in federal support for Medicaid, states would have a greater level of flexibility than under the current system. Overall, the plan would contain the growth of Medicare and Medicaid to the growth of GDP plus 1 percent.

Real Scooter

January 6th, 2011
5:13 pm

Dang Taxpayer,you are starting to sound like a broken record.Give it a rest already! Thanks.

josef nix

January 6th, 2011
5:15 pm

Let me see if I’ve got this straight, the Secretary of Defense proposes budget cuts for his own bailiwick and that’s found “objectionable?” That just don’t make no sense to me…

TaxPayer

January 6th, 2011
5:21 pm

SoCo,

You ready for the privatization of TSA.

TaxPayer

January 6th, 2011
5:22 pm

Dang Real Scooter. You are a broken record. Go to bed.

Real Scooter

January 6th, 2011
5:24 pm

Hey josef,if I’m thinking clearly(probably not),The budget cuts will be used elsewhere and not really be a cut.

Pogo

January 6th, 2011
5:25 pm

Obama wants to reduce the hated corporations tax rates. He is truly a slick snakeoil salesman especially considering the anti-business mantra he has pounded out for the first two years of his administration. And his sheep, including Jay, will continue to think that the only thing we have to do is raise taxes and they will continue to support him. Obama is way smarter than the progressive sycophants that comprise his base and he is willing to do or say anything in the name of his own political expediency. The sad truth is, because of our debt, nothing, including raising taxes or for that matter not raising taxes, will do any good. This country is in deep trouble and the only thing people like Jay can do is to continue to play some kind of blame game in the name of their political ideology but that will not change the end result. America is about to suffer and it is going to suffer badly. However, one can’t blame Jay for being totally naieve because afterall, he receives a check every two weeks for continuously stirring up partisan political turmoil for a bunch of people who sadly have nothing else to do with their lives but to jump to his every post. No, there are only a handfull of them but for them, what Jay serves is their life. There is truly nothing sadder than a grown person posting “First” as some kind of victory. What have these peoples lives been reduced to?

Real Scooter

January 6th, 2011
5:26 pm

I’m in bed Taxpayer!

JohnnyReb

January 6th, 2011
5:26 pm

The $100 billion scenario sounds like new math used at one of those loan shark outfits near the military bases.

The $78 billion that would actually be removed from the DOD budget is Obama calling out the Republicans. Repubs will want to cut entitlements before deep cuts to DOD. Obama knows that and wants to use Repub pushback to the proposed cuts as political fodder.

josef nix

January 6th, 2011
5:26 pm

Scooter

Three card monte, eh?

TaxPayer

January 6th, 2011
5:28 pm

Come on Jay. I know you know how insurance companies would compete on cost under the Republican plan. You divide up the groups to be insured by age and whether they have pre-existing conditions, etc., and offer competitive costs to those that you can make money off of.

TaxPayer

January 6th, 2011
5:30 pm

I’m in bed Taxpayer!

Then go to sleep. Pleasant dreams.

Doggone/GA

January 6th, 2011
5:30 pm

“The $100 billion scenario sounds like new math used at one of those loan shark outfits near the military bases.”

It is. It shouldn’t even be mentioned as it is not cutting anything out of the budget.

jm

January 6th, 2011
5:30 pm

Jay 5:23 – I think competition in the insurance market would improve. However, I think as you allude, to, that doesn’t really fix the underlying cost issue.

The underlying issue is choice and cost at the time of purchase of the health care service. This is fraught with complexity and generally lacking in “price transparency.” My biggest hope is that the combination of government investment in IT and a few technology apps can fix this.

The issue is, when you need a non-emergency CT, you have no idea what the price is. Consumers need to be empowered with technology that says – the CT where you are now costs $2,000, and the CT down the street costs $1,500, and here’s the price at the closest 3 hospitals.

Emergency care is a different issue. When you need emergency care, you’re going to the closest qualified hospital. However, after that, it is all about some of the metrics Obamacare wants to dig into – cost for service. Again, consumers can be empowered. If they know hospital A provides heart surgery with a lower death rate, and a lower cost – competition happens.

What I’m saying in simple terms, is consumers need better information at their fingertips. IT can be the cure…. and for people who don’t have Iphones, the hospital should have to disclose the price the closest 3 hospitals charge for the same slate of procedures.

We need a national procedure cost database….

Real Scooter

January 6th, 2011
5:31 pm

What have these peoples lives been reduced to

The blogosphere ? Maybe.

jm

January 6th, 2011
5:32 pm

“We need a national procedure cost database….” with outcomes data available alongside price….

josef nix

January 6th, 2011
5:35 pm

Free universal health care…anything else is just one more song and dance routine…I know, I know, this is socialism. Well, so what? The medical profession and the insurance companies in conjunction created this mess, so, pay up…

jm

January 6th, 2011
5:37 pm

josef nix – as one of the articles above states, Medicare IS single payer. And look how that has worked out.

If Congress was a well managed operation, that would be one thing. But it isn’t. Hence everyone’s terror of single payer and national healthcare….

josef nix

January 6th, 2011
5:38 pm

DUSTY
When you check in here as per my @ 5:35…see, I am brave and fearless, I’ll risk sleeping on the porch on a night like tonight!

Real Scooter

January 6th, 2011
5:38 pm

Then go to sleep

I’d rather stay awake and hound you about your repeditive tax cut posts. I’ve read enough of your posts to know that you have a lot to contribute to Jay’s threads.

josef nix

January 6th, 2011
5:39 pm

jm
Medicare has worked out pretty well in my opinion…and to hell with single payer…I said free, universal!

Doggone/GA

January 6th, 2011
5:41 pm

““We need a national procedure cost database….” with outcomes data available alongside price….”

Wasn’t something like that proposed in the healthcare overhaul bill and shot down as being part of the so-called “death panels”?

jm

January 6th, 2011
5:41 pm

“free, universal” well that would work out swimmingly….. as you well know…

“Push this red button to self destruct”

“Do not push this red button”

Ooops.

jm

January 6th, 2011
5:42 pm

Doggone – something similar is contemplated I think, although I don’t know if they plan to find a good way to stick the data in the consumer’s hands.

The death panel thing was separate….

josef nix

January 6th, 2011
5:43 pm

jm

works all right in other developed nations…

Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)

January 6th, 2011
5:44 pm

Well, if they cut the defense budget I don’t know how we’ll ever be able to start another war to take the place of the one that’s winding down in Iraq. I mean, just look at all the jobs that will be lost.

I say we leave the defense budget fat and start cutting the money for the old geezers and the jobless bums and people like that. That’s the Republican way of doing things. This Robert Gates might say he’s a Republican but he’s just a librul Democrat in disguise. Ignore him and start whacking the money somewhere else. He’s just plain Unpatriotic.

Have a good night everybody.

Doggone/GA

January 6th, 2011
5:44 pm

“The death panel thing was separate….”

I think, though, that it all got lumped together as “the government deciding who lives and who dies”

jm

January 6th, 2011
5:45 pm

Off to go schmooze with some socialist tree huggers. I keep trying to convince them the most rational cost effective environmental thing for the ATL is white roofs. They want to become fiat developers and have an oversight panel of bureaucratic consultants (”genius” full employment laws) if you want to put in a new toilet or paint your walls. They don’t listen well. Cheerio folks, may check in later…

JohnnyReb

January 6th, 2011
5:45 pm

Josef, I hope you like dancing! Free universal health care sounds good. The problem of course is, nothing is free. And, there is a growing movement where the producers don’t want to pay for moochers. I know, I know, we are greedy conservatives. Personally, I don’t mind paying for some of the moochers to have health care IF we could reduce the number of moochers down from the current 47% not paying any federal income taxes.

Dusty

January 6th, 2011
5:46 pm

Gates is one of the smartest people in Washington (and the most quiet). He ran the CIA, a university, and did the same job for Bush he is doing for Obama. He cares about the COUNTRY. I was not surprised when I heard his plan some time back. The funds will be held for new items needed in the military. So it is like putting money in the bank for later expenses.

Smart man! Conservative thinking! If only HE would run for the presidency but he won’t. I think he has already said so.

The USMC’s Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle

January 6th, 2011
5:47 pm

[...] | USMC statement || Defense Update | WIRED Danger Room | || Cato Institute | Lexington Institute || Atlanta Journal Constitution | The Atlantic | Bloomberg | Detroit Free Press | The Hill | NY Times | Politico | Stars and [...]

josef nix

January 6th, 2011
5:50 pm

JohnnyReb

No moochers in this as far as I’m concerned…free and universal…health care should be a right (Brazil) and not a luxury…like education and national security…sure, it costs, but it’s money well spent, IMHO.

i’m not getting into that 47% thingie…

Scout

January 6th, 2011
5:50 pm

……………… and at the same time he is sending 1,400 more Marines to Afghanistan.

“AIR RAID PEARL HARBOR, THIS IS NO DRILL”

jm

January 6th, 2011
5:53 pm

good read – exit left

http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=avSsYd96AjHo

Dusty

January 6th, 2011
5:55 pm

JOSEF,

So you got thrown out in the cold to sleep on the porch? Uh huh…But the weatherman did say SNOW and the weatherman is never wrong.

I’ll have you know that I am a health professional and I did NOT make THAT “care” mess. It was those shiftless schoolteachers. That’s who..They are always up to something!

TaxPayer

January 6th, 2011
5:59 pm

I’ve read enough of your posts to know that you have a lot to contribute to Jay’s threads.

Of course I do and this issue with the Republicans exempting tax cuts from any scrutiny regarding their impact on the deficit deserves repeating along with their stoopid claims that tax cuts increase tax revenues.

BADA BING

January 6th, 2011
6:00 pm

Hey Scout……I was feeling depressed today and call ed the Suicide Hotline. I talked to an operator and told him I had suicidal thoughts. I noticed when we talked that he had an accent and I asked where the call center was located, and he told me Pakistan. He wasn’t much help, but he wanted to know if I knew how to drive a truck.

JohnnyReb

January 6th, 2011
6:01 pm

Josef – so you don’t want to get into the 47% thingie. I respect that, but have to state the 47% thingie is a big part of the problem. Everyone, no matter their lot in life, has to contribute something if this semi-socialist situation we have has any chance of improving. If I was in charge, everyone would work at something. Forced work; would that make me a communist?

Real Scooter

January 6th, 2011
6:03 pm

Is there really such a thing as free health care? I think those of us in the middle class will always be paying for ourselves and the poor folks.

Hillbilly Deluxe

January 6th, 2011
6:09 pm

If I were the President, I’d go to each department head and tell them to submit a budget request to me, with a 5% reduction. I wouldn’t necessarily follow what they proposed, if I thought it was wrong but that would get the ball rolling, and that’s how I’d work up the budget I submitted to Congress. If Congress wanted to increase something, then they’d have to take the heat.

Real Scooter

January 6th, 2011
6:10 pm

TaxPayer

January 6th, 2011
5:59 pm

I agree with you on the tax cuts Taxpayer. Since you feel so strongly about it,I’ll not hound you about it(or hump your leg as AmVet would say). You really should try to get over it though.

Real Scooter

January 6th, 2011
6:14 pm

Hillbilly Deluxe

January 6th, 2011
6:09 pm

If you run for Prez,I’ll vote for ya!

Hillbilly Deluxe

January 6th, 2011
6:18 pm

Real Scooter

I don’t really want your vote; I’d be more than happy with a campaign contribution, though.

(See last nights discussion)

josef nix

January 6th, 2011
6:19 pm

DUSTY
You’ve been talking to Unmentionable again, I can see. And to cap it off, all I get for supper is Chinese take-out! From off-shore, no doubt!

josef nix

January 6th, 2011
6:23 pm

Hillbilly…
I agree, only I’d go for 10%

And I’m for free, universal health care for the same reason I am the same income tax rate for all…nobody could kvetch any more than anybody else…

Scout

January 6th, 2011
6:25 pm

BADA BING :

Don’t do that ! I hit my knee on the desk I was laughing so hard.

Southern Comfort

January 6th, 2011
6:30 pm

You ready for the privatization of TSA.

There are airports that have already privatized. It doesn’t matter though because they’re still subject to TSA rules and regulations. The only difference is that the workers don’t wear TSA uniforms.

Dusty, I left this one downstairs for you, but I’ll post it here to make sure you get it.

But but but SOCO…Obama was hailed by Democrats as an ExtraTerrestial Being who could CHANGE this country with a snap of his fingers. The voters believed it. NOW you don’t believe it?? Oh ye of little faith!!!

Obama was painted that way by the Right as to what they thought the Left thought about Obama. I have yet to hear any on the Left refer to Obama that way. In all honesty, the Left was no worse over Obama than what the Right is over Reagan. The Right is always on a quest to deitify people. The voters wanted a change from what they currently had in office. That’s all.

Hillbilly Deluxe

January 6th, 2011
6:32 pm

josef

I wouldn’t have a big problem with 10%, but 5%, theoretically, would be easier to get through.

On the tax thing, it’d probably take 30 years to phase in, but I’d like to see all the breaks, deductions, etc done away with. You make “x” amount of dollars, you pay “y% of x” in taxes. I don’t think the lawyers, accountants, etc, will ever let that happen, though.

I also think another radical idea we should think about trying is, no withholding. You get a tax bill quarterly, semi-annually, or annually (to be determined) and you have to cough up your taxes. Everybody would have a much better understanding of how much they pay in taxes, and I think that might cause the public to put pressure on the politicians, to keep spending at lower levels. Withholding is a far more convenient way of doing things, but it tends to lull folks to sleep, about what things actually cost.

F. Sinkwich

January 6th, 2011
6:34 pm

All hail the messiah! He’s cutting government spending!

Well, just spending by an organization he hates. But it’s a start I guess.

How about some serious cuts in EPA, the Department of Education, Planned Parenthood, NPR, etc., the liberal sacred cows?

Just a thought.

md

January 6th, 2011
6:39 pm

“Just to make sure it’s clear, $100 billion of the savings sought by Gates would be kept within the Defense Department and used for other defense purposes. The additional $78 billion over five years would be actual reductions in projected spending. (And again, just for clarity’s sake, the cuts are in projected spending — actual Defense spending would rise slightly and then level out over the next five years.)”

Ok, moving $100 billion around the house is now considered “saving”, and the $78 billion is saved because they are only raising the budget a wee bit instead.

Anybody else see a problem with those numbers??

I see debt climbing with zero reductions……………

Paulo977

January 6th, 2011
6:40 pm

josef @5:25pm
“josef nix

January 6th, 2011
5:35 pm
“Free universal health care…anything else is just one more song and dance routine”……Of course!

Unfortunately, it may take decades and decades and decades for this selfish nation to finally figure out that uplifting and empowering the weak in the society will also create a more healthy and productive nation !

josef nix

January 6th, 2011
6:40 pm

Hillbilly
I agree that 10% probably wouldn’t fly, but in the wrangling to cut down, we might get your 5%…starting there, we probably would get 2.5%…

I agree with you, too, on the tax accountants, lawyers, etc. throwing a hissy…and getting their way…

I had never really thought about your doing away with withholding, but it makes sense to me the way that you put it..

Those who do get zapped with that yearly bill do tend to be the ones doing the most kvetching…

Doggone/GA

January 6th, 2011
6:41 pm

“it may take decades and decades and decades for this selfish nation to finally figure out that uplifting and empowering the weak in the society will also create a more healthy and productive nation ”

Yeah, well…look how long it took to come to that realization about WOMEN

md

January 6th, 2011
6:43 pm

Isn’t that the same math they use at the grocery store????

Mr soandso, you saved $77.22……….

Yeh, but I spent $649.50 in groceries……………

F. Sinkwich

January 6th, 2011
6:43 pm

Paul:

“Unfortunately, it may take decades and decades and decades for this selfish nation to finally figure out that uplifting and empowering the weak in the society will also create a more healthy and productive nation !”

Could you please define “uplifting” and “empowering?” Defining “weak” would be nice too.

Thanks.

md

January 6th, 2011
6:44 pm

“Unfortunately, it may take decades and decades and decades for this selfish nation to finally figure out that uplifting and empowering the weak in the society will also create a more healthy and productive nation !”

Yep, it will take that long for folks to understand that selfish is a two-way street…………….

josef nix

January 6th, 2011
6:46 pm

PAULO
And I can’t for the life of me figure out how people can’t see that…really, it’s probably more a “conservative” philosophy than a “liberal” one…it’s so short sighted, more concerned with the initial investment than with the return a healthy society is a productive society and a productive workforce is good for business…

Real Scooter

January 6th, 2011
6:50 pm

Yeah, well…look how long it took to come to that realization about WOMEN

We didn’t come to that realizatoion! Y’all forced yourselves on us.

Doggone/GA

January 6th, 2011
6:53 pm

“We didn’t come to that realizatoion! Y’all forced yourselves on us”

Yeah, and some people never got the message!

N-GA

January 6th, 2011
6:56 pm

WHen Jay published his op-ed on the border fence that really kept no one out, one poster (was it Scout?) noted that all the border patrol needed was a gun. Well…….
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_usa_mexico_shooting

josef nix

January 6th, 2011
6:57 pm

Sinkwich
Yeah, I can see those cuts in education…you evidently aren’t suffering from the lack…

PAULO
One of my relatives, a successful and rather cold-blooded capitalist running dog, many, many moons ago in addition to the decent employers’ insurance his firm offered, also put in and staffed a clinic on premisis to which the workers’ families had access…the rationale? Preventative health care…calling in sick? Fine, pass by the clinic and let’s see how bad it is and if you need to go to the doctor/hospital. flu shots, birth control, vd checks, breast scans, that kind of thing…absenteeism went w-a-a-y down and productivity increased…the workforce was also more loyal and the cutback on training of new employees itself paid for the program…

md

January 6th, 2011
6:59 pm

OK guys, I’ll ask again……if 1/3 of folks make a choice (selfish?) to drop out of the assistance program we are already funding for them called “education”, how many programs do we set up for those that choose not to participate??

Common Sense isn't very Common

January 6th, 2011
6:59 pm

One way to get 47% of the people to pay income taxes is for the companies to have FT jobs paying above minimum wage instead of PT no benefit positions (like has been the trend for the last 10 years).

Scout

January 6th, 2011
7:02 pm

N-GA :

Not me.

josef nix

January 6th, 2011
7:02 pm

md
2 6:59
Because 2/3 WOULD take advantage?

Real Scooter

January 6th, 2011
7:03 pm

Yeah, and some people never got the message!

You can’t mean me Doggone,cause I got the message and the shaft. Whew!

N-GA

January 6th, 2011
7:03 pm

Common Sense: Another way is to restrict the employment of “independent contractors” such as carpenters, bricklayers, painters and even limousine drivers who rarely file taxes. If they do, they certainly don’t file truthful returns…apologies to those independent contractors out there who actually file accurate returns.

F. Sinkwich

January 6th, 2011
7:05 pm

“One way to get 47% of the people to pay income taxes is for the companies to have FT jobs paying above minimum wage instead of PT no benefit positions (like has been the trend for the last 10 years).”

Even if the business owner loses money in order to do that?

N-GA

January 6th, 2011
7:06 pm

Sorry Scout, the poster was:

JKL2

January 5th, 2011
9:54 am
SoCo- You build a fence, they bring a ladder. You build a bigger fence, they bring a bigger ladder

That’s what the automatic weapons are for…

Real Scooter

January 6th, 2011
7:07 pm

md

January 6th, 2011
6:59 pm

Dang dude,how bout asking an easier question? lol

Common Sense isn't very Common

January 6th, 2011
7:09 pm

HD – quarterly tax bills for employees? the 1099 program has been in existance for years. Many people who were once employees became 1099’s. They are SUPPOSED to pay their taxes quarterly etc. with income tax returns being filed April 15th.

This has become a vehicle for many companies and 1099ers to avoid paying ANY income taxes on employment wages (especially illegal immigrants).

1099ers are RESPONSIBLE for all taxes associated with employment (UI, SS, etc) but as wages sank since 1995 many have not contributed their taxes to the Gov’t causing fewer and fewer to pay more and more. It would be easier to modify the 1099 to withhold a certain percent and then require filing taxes quarterly to make up any shortfall/overage.

Lil' Barry Bailout

January 6th, 2011
7:10 pm

The Idiot Messiah is moving to the center…note his appointment of one of his Wall Street fatcat buddies as his chief of staff.

md

January 6th, 2011
7:11 pm

“Because 2/3 WOULD take advantage?”

Yes…..and they are the ones that some here call “selfish”. What about the 1/3 that chooses NOT to participate??

Here is a snapshot of costs associated with dropouts:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/28/eveningnews/main6528227.shtml

I’ll ask again…..just who are the selfish ones??

Southern Comfort

January 6th, 2011
7:11 pm

if 1/3 of folks make a choice (selfish?) to drop out of the assistance program we are already funding for them called “education”, how many programs do we set up for those that choose not to participate??

Only one, jail. Do you think that Asian cultures or other cultures that revere education have as big of a problem with drop-outs as we do? No government program will change that 1/3. That change has to come from a change in culture and a change at home.

Mick

January 6th, 2011
7:12 pm

pogo

Nice essay and critique. I hope you realize that your pessimistic outlook never would have cut it at many junctures in american history. We were on a fairly good path until 2000. So, in ten years you think we’ve managed to destroy the whole future of america? See why so many of us don’t trust republicans? This insanity of tax cuts has hallowed out some otherwise pretty sane brain cells. The eisenhower republicans were not insane. They did not go after social security, they did not demonize unions, they helped build the greatest middle class ever. Now, after thirty years of tax cutting, look around, america is a mess. I don’t like paying taxes either but if paying an extra $50 or $100 a year and for the wealthy a grand or ten, I’ll do that for my country. EVERY american needs to pay some and some should pay more. Freeze all programs and start investing in the future for the kids behind us – lord knows they’re going to need it…

F. Sinkwich

January 6th, 2011
7:14 pm

Common,

Perhaps we should eliminate withholding and force all to write checks to the government every month for taxes, SS, etc.

Wouldn’t that be the end of liberalism?

Mary Elizabeth

January 6th, 2011
7:14 pm

Paulo977 @ 6:40 and
Josef @ 6:46

It is simply called selfishness. Plain and simple. God help us if this is the nation we are willing to become. Details explained can be simply a camouflage for a selfish soul. Beware of surface. Look into intent.

md

January 6th, 2011
7:16 pm

“That’s 7,000 every school day — one dropout every 26 seconds. ”

“Dropouts cost taxpayers more than $8 billion annually in public assistance programs like food stamps. High school dropouts earn about $10 thousand less a year than workers with diplomas. That’s $300 billion in lost earnings every year. They’re more likely to be unemployed: 15 percent are out of work versus a national average of 9.4 percent. They also are more likely to be incarcerated. Almost 60 percent of federal inmates are high school drop outs. “

F. Sinkwich

January 6th, 2011
7:18 pm

Mick:

“I don’t like paying taxes either but if paying an extra $50 or $100 a year…I’ll do that for my country.”

Please let me know if you did that on April 18.

md

January 6th, 2011
7:18 pm

Mary,

If we choose everything we do (and we do), how are those that choose to drop out not selfish??

Simple question…………..

@@

January 6th, 2011
7:19 pm

Watched Gates on PBS NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. Although he proposed defense cuts, he also said we can’t leave ourselves vulnerable in an age where threats are everywhere.

AJC is promoting “Muscle Warfare”? Build your body with “Nuke”, “Napalm” and “MOAB”.

Ripped on synthetics.

Alrighty din!

Southern Comfort

January 6th, 2011
7:24 pm

md

I understand and agree with your point on dropouts. However, I don’t see how lumping that much of the blame on that one group helps. Sure, you have dropouts who are on welfare. However, you have dropouts like Bill Gates on the opposite end of the spectrum. At the same time, you have people with advanced degrees living homeless on the streets. I don’t think there’s a cut-n-dry easy answer in regards to your selfishness statement. What can be viewed by one person as selfishness could be viewed by the person committing the act as hopelessness. It’s all in perspective. Before you come back with it all boils down to choices, I’ll agree with you on that. Sometimes the choices are not easy ones, and not all choices are obvious to the person making them.

AmVet

January 6th, 2011
7:26 pm

Finally.

Someone with the balls to touch the sacred Federal Government’s Gigantic Jobs Program.

This ain’t gonna sit well with the members of the 101st Chairborne in the Permanent War Party, as evidenced by that idiotic question, “We are fighting two wars, you have China, you have Iran: Is this the time to be making these types of cuts?”

Of course not, Buckaroo. And given the wishes of you and your fellow GOP chickenhawks, we will never again have a time without multiple Crusades.

Del

January 6th, 2011
7:27 pm

Cutting the EFV was Obama, Gates and Mullins way of punishing the Marine Corps for being politically incorrect on their non-support of DADT. The cuts that the little weasel Gates is throwing out is really just smoke and mirrors to benefit his boss in the White House. What a politically driven waste Gates is but Bush appointed him.

josef nix

January 6th, 2011
7:29 pm

This ought to throw a monkey wrench into the machinery…

http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/60414/natural-gas-field-is-significant-find/

md

January 6th, 2011
7:29 pm

soco,

I agree, it isn’t cut and dried and applied to the entire group, but some here have no problem applying the selfish label in the other direction basically the same way……………..

Merely pointing out that selfish can be and is a two way street. Also, it is such a false flag to accuse folks of being selfish if they don’t agree with their definition of compassion…………

Disgusted

January 6th, 2011
7:29 pm

“Dropouts cost taxpayers more than $8 billion annually in public assistance programs like food stamps.

I don’t see a solution being offered here. You expect a 16-year-old to make a rational decision about staying in school? You’re implicitly heavy on the punishment—he]] with them, they deserve what they get, etc.—but you aren’t proposing any solution to the dropout problem. Yours is essentially a negative argument. It’s the same one used to describe all unemployed people as bums, etc.

@@

January 6th, 2011
7:30 pm

O.K., for those who have been camped out here…

has Getalife regained access? Is he posting?

Common Sense isn't very Common

January 6th, 2011
7:30 pm

F. Sinkwich@7:05 pm and 7:14 pm

Even if the business owner loses money in order to do that?

Perhaps we should eliminate withholding and force all to write checks to the government every month for taxes, SS, etc.

Wouldn’t that be the end of liberalism?
——————

Really Walmart, Kmart, Sears can’t afford to hire 1 FT employee instead of 2 PT employees?

(the PT employee sometimes is forced to work more than 1 job incurring the added expense of transportation to multiple jobs)

This is not about liberalism or conservatism

Everyone is bitching that 47% don’t pay income taxes (although they pay other taxes).

This would be a practical way to increase gov’t revenue by having an employer withhold taxes and submitting to the gov’t while at the same time making the employee responsible for filing his/her quarterlies. Thereby ending the non filing issue.

At the same time revenue neutral programs need to be enacted (PAYGO) and all other federal programs gone through carefully for waste.

The only problematic area is technology which the fed is famous for outsourcing (sometimes to foreign companies(which is another favorite rant of mine LOL))

md

January 6th, 2011
7:32 pm

Jo,

Yeh, a new target for the bad guys…………..

buck@gon

January 6th, 2011
7:33 pm

I’m conjecturing too Bookman, and the only thing that makes sense is that Obama seems to care about deficits whenever the politics suits him–after the SHELLACKING. This sudden insincere concern is brought forward for one reason only, the hinder Republicans from cutting spending, AND to sell the US budget as the bigger problem than unemployment and the economy. In the fantasy island of Washington DC, everything is hunky dory if and only if there is plenty of money to spend. If there are Republicans around saying there isn’t, then it’s just no fun for Pelosi, Reid and Barney Frank.

Suddenly the Adolesident is a budget hawk? Don’t even go there. The only reason for suggesting this is to obfuscate the fact that the Obamune would love to catch the Republicans in another “read my lips” moment a la George Bush 41. Not going to happen.

The only reason that Defense is getting anything resembling a budget shaving is that it is the only department of government that the Chicago-bama thug Adolesidency loathes with every fiber of their being. (Maybe just “hates” is appropriate now because a key democrat constituency is allowed to come out of the closet).

josef nix

January 6th, 2011
7:35 pm

Part of the solution to the drop out rate is the have programs in place in the public schools for its graduates to enter the workforce with viable skills in the artisan trades. That ain’t gonna happen with the simultaneous demand to cut spending on education…you gets what you pays for…

md

January 6th, 2011
7:36 pm

“I don’t see a solution being offered here.”

I’ve posted it many times in the past…………..pretty simple actually…….in order for one to get assistance, they must “choose” to re-enter the initial assistance program – education.

We provide the first program and one should finish the first program before asking for assistance in alternate programs.

Hillbilly Deluxe

January 6th, 2011
7:38 pm

Common Sense

That’s a valid point about the 1099’s. They could just give you a W2, like they do now (for those who get W2’s) except don’t withhold taxes weekly, just keep track of what’s owed. I think if most people had to pay their taxes in a lump sum, annually or whatever, they’d crap a gold brick and things might get changed.

I know with my property taxes, which I get a bill for, once a year (which increases annually but that’s another story for another day), I’m painfully aware of just how much it costs, when I take the check to them.

Mary Elizabeth

January 6th, 2011
7:39 pm

md @ 7:15

Those who are successful in school do not drop out. There are literally hundreds of reasons that students are not successful and over which they have no control. One is I.Q. If Student A has an IQ of 80 and Student B has an IQ of 140, both students are capable of learning the same curriculum, but it will take Student A twice as long as Student B to learn the same curriculum.

However, schools are not presently set up to take into account that needed the time variable – called ensuring mastery learning. Instead, every student has the same 9 months to master the same curriculum for a given grade level respective of his or her varied I.Q. level. That is the fault of the school systems, not the students. So the students, in that particular case, are the victims of the ignorance of mastery learning within of the school systems.

And I.Q. variances are only one type of variable.

But when I was speaking of selfishness, I was not speaking in terms of education. I am speaking of a consciousness in this nation that has turned to judging everyone else regarding their success in comparison to one’s own success. That is so what is so short-sighted and selfish. Why not think in terms of how we can lift others instead of how we can judge them?

We are better as a nation when we try to understand others – even the weak – with compassion and insight instead of continuing to pass harsh judgments on others – judgments of which we have such limited knowledge.

Beware of those who are so against a federal role in national healthcare. At least the federal government is non-profit. Health insurance companies are for profit. Vouchers will never change that basic concept. Are we to become a nation whereby every man and woman must fend for him or herself in healthcare or could we, instead, think of education and healthcare as essentials and rights for every American citizens?

That is what I mean by a consciousness of communion versus a consciousness of selfishness in our nation. And, without a doubt, our consciousness as a nation will carry over into world consciousness in ways that are not always simply logical.

Southern Comfort

January 6th, 2011
7:41 pm

Cutting the EFV was Obama, Gates and Mullins way of punishing the Marine Corps for being politically incorrect on their non-support of DADT.

I guess it’s the same for reducing the number of Marines by 20,000. But what was his motivation for the other stuff? He’s talking about an increase in TRICARE, cutting back in the general officer corps, freezing civilian pay, and other stuff.

md

I’m with you now. I understand and agree with your point much better.

josef nix

January 6th, 2011
7:41 pm

md
@ 7:32

Kinda makes you want to know which party Noble Energy is contributing to, doesn’t it?

TaxPayer

January 6th, 2011
7:42 pm

Real Scooter

January 6th, 2011
6:10 pm

Thank you, Real Scooter and I’ll try to be less less snarky with you in exchange.

Southern Comfort

January 6th, 2011
7:42 pm

josef @ 7:35

Amen!!!!

False Evidence Appearing Real (FEAR)

January 6th, 2011
7:44 pm

Well said Mary Elizabeth.

Mary Elizabeth

January 6th, 2011
7:49 pm

FEAR @ 7:44

Thank you for your comments. BTW, the word in my post at should have been “irrespective” not “respective.”

md

January 6th, 2011
7:49 pm

“I am speaking of a consciousness in this nation that has turned to judging everyone else regarding their success in comparison to one’s own success. That is so what is so short-sighted and selfish.”

But are you yourself not judging with that very statement??

Common Sense isn't very Common

January 6th, 2011
7:52 pm

Hillbilly Deluxe@7:38 pm

With 1099s the employee has no NEED to pay taxes as in property taxes etc.

1099 have no taxes taken out therefore the recipient just doesn’t pay them

That leads to non contribution to SS which will not enable them to ever retire unless the fed creates a totally seperate retirement program for them (retire, starve, die)?

md

January 6th, 2011
7:52 pm

“Kinda makes you want to know which party Noble Energy is contributing to, doesn’t it?”

Just another stock I didn’t buy…………par for the course.

I’m thinking they may have wanted to keep it under wraps though…..I’m guessing Hezbollah and Hamas and their handlers are plotting on their maps as we speak, waiting for the day to see a bit of infrastructure……………

Southern Comfort

January 6th, 2011
7:53 pm

The Marine landing craft, called the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, was conceived in the late 1980s, and each one was meant to carry 17 Marines ashore and roar inland without pausing on beaches raked by enemy fire. But difficulties in marrying the land and sea technology have led to billions in cost overruns and years of delay, with an early cost estimate of $9 billion for 1,000 vehicles ballooning to $14.4 billion for 574 of them. The government has so far spent about $3 billion on its development.

Mr. Gates, moreover, has questioned whether amphibious assaults, which were crucial in World War II and the Korean War, make sense now that adversaries can fire missiles at ships and tanks from many miles away.

Could also be that Mr. Gates is trying to save the lives of both Marines and Navy personnel by not putting them within range of missiles that could kill them before they even have a chance to get started.

From the same link:
And even some Marines acknowledge that they made themselves vulnerable to the cost-cutting by becoming just as caught up in high-tech projects as the rest of the military.

“The Marine Corps used to say, ‘Our weapons system is the Marine,’ and tout its affordability as a service,” said Dakota Wood, a retired Marine lieutenant colonel who is now a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a research group in Washington. “But they seem to have become enamored with the very high-end programs that in previous years they would have criticized the Army or the Air Force for pursuing.”

Scout

January 6th, 2011
7:55 pm

N-GA :

No problem. Thanks.

Mary Elizabeth

January 6th, 2011
7:59 pm

md @ 7:49

You are now playing a semantics game with me in which I am not going to indulge.

But I will say that even Christ made judgments, but He judged those who did not have their spirits or hearts in the right place. He judged them for their lack of compassion and called it what it was. Likewise, MLK Jr. knew racists when he saw them, but he tried to have compassion even for them while at the same time not relenting on calling what they were doing as wrong. He kept that duality of thought in his consciousness in order to lift the society as a whole, as well as the individuals within it – from a standpoint of spiritual strength, not from spiritual passivity.

TaxPayer

January 6th, 2011
7:59 pm

SoCo,

The military should have hired Bruce Wayne to design that amphibious craft.

josef nix

January 6th, 2011
8:01 pm

md

just another stock I didn’t buy…may still be time…take a look…

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-29/noble-says-tests-show-leviathan-is-significant-gas-discovery-off-israel.html

Hillbilly Deluxe

January 6th, 2011
8:01 pm

Common Sense

That’s not what I’m talking about though. The IRS can keep track of what you owe, the amount can be sent in every week and the end of the year, they send you a bill (similar to property taxes). Pay up or face the IRS, similar to what it is now. They can still take the SS out weekly, if they choose.

md

January 6th, 2011
8:07 pm

“You are now playing a semantics game with me in which I am not going to indulge.”

Not really….merely pointing out that each of us have our own set of definitions, and although both sets may be different, it doesn’t necessarily equate to either being wrong…………………..

My philosophy on helping the “poor and weak” may be different, but it doesn’t make it wrong. I’m a firm believer in long term solutions, and to me, short term assistance without conditions could very well be much more damaging in the long term.

TaxPayer

January 6th, 2011
8:10 pm

Technology will ultimately lead to the exclusion of humankind from the battlefield. “Man” will be replaced by the more efficient killing machine and then the machine will turn on man. It all began on Caprica. Unless you are a fan of Terminator. In that case, it was all Arnold Swartzenager’s fault. Unlike Obama, he’s a real alien.

Southern Comfort

January 6th, 2011
8:12 pm

TaxPayer

LOL!!!!

On a serious note, I think that EFV is an example of government waste that can and should be cut. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t invest and research technology. However, I think the whole contracting scheme is nothing but a way to funnel taxpayer money into someone’s pocket. The whole contracting process should be reviewed and revamped. If I were to rewrite government contracting rules, here’s where I would start:

*End of all no-bid contracts. Even if it’s a contract to shovel sh*t, it will be bidded on.

*All bids must be realistic bid amounts and not low-balled just to get the contract.

*Contractors would be allowd a maximum of 5% overruns before a complete audit would take place. If the contract can not be completed within a 15% overrun, their contract would be voided. The job would then go to the 2nd place bidder.

*Any contractor who has multiple overruns would be barred from competing for future contracts for a period of no less than 20 years.

That’s just for starters. It would force companies to bid the true costs of their projects or it would cut the “significant delays” that leads to decade-long overruns and delays.

josef nix

January 6th, 2011
8:12 pm

md

I would agree with much of your 8:07 except that no responsible parties are at all interested in those long-term solutions…we are a culture of immediate gratification and obsessive self interest.

Southern Comfort

January 6th, 2011
8:13 pm

It all began on Caprica. Unless you are a fan of Terminator. In that case, it was all Arnold Swartzenager’s fault. Unlike Obama, he’s a real alien.

If you ever hear of a military project called SkyNet, we’re in deep ****!!!

md

January 6th, 2011
8:15 pm

“Technology will ultimately lead to the exclusion of humankind from the battlefield.”

May not be too far off…………our joystick generation against their joystick generation in the battle of drones…………….

Who would of thought that nintendo, sony and microsoft were actually developing warfare systems disguised as gaming sets…………..

Mick

January 6th, 2011
8:17 pm

sinkwich@7:18

You really have to be a doofus to make comment like that….

Mary Elizabeth

January 6th, 2011
8:17 pm

md @ 8:07

I am glad to hear that you are not playing a semantics game with me, md, and I take you at your word and believe your words.

But your words, “I’m a firm believer in long term solutions, and to me, short term assistance without conditions could very well be much more damaging in the long term,” simply seem like abstract philosophizing to me. Remember I spent 35 years of my life “where the rubber hits the road” working with kids. Just help them as best you can, without judgments is all I am saying.
I certainly don’t have all the answers, but I do trust the wisdom of God through Christ when He said, “Judge not that you be not judged.” It is a matter of degree, as we have both pointed out. Even Jesus judged, but the dominant lesson of his life was love, not judgment.

The problem with judgment is our limited humann perceptions. You may think you know why someone is failing in life or school, but one really have such limited awareness – like seeing the top of an iceberg only. That is why it is better to love than to judge. Love nurtures and creates growth. Judgment can crush and destroy.

Del

January 6th, 2011
8:19 pm

SoCo, I don’t think you’re an expert on Marine Corps infantry operations. I think Marine Corps command are the best experts. Robert Gates has always been a finger in the wind political appointee who is no expert either on the aforementioned subject, so I guess you’re in good company.

md

January 6th, 2011
8:20 pm

Jo,

I concur……too bad it isn’t looked at like preventative health-care. Ensuring education on the front end would cure a lot of what ails us on the back end.

Mick

January 6th, 2011
8:24 pm

Scout

Check this out-
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gilt-manual/bush-crocs-presidential-socks-obama-flip-flops_b_805337.html

josef nix

January 6th, 2011
8:25 pm

Jay the other day referred to Newt as a “Republican Robespierre,” and while I thought it was a good turn of phrase and not to far off in certain aspects, this Revolution so many of those wanting to cut this, that or the other program and lambasting the poor (most of whom are working poor) tend to forget that that revolution began with the bread riots…revolutions are not fought on full bellies, and L-rd knows what would happen of these assistance programs WERE axed forthwith…it wouldn’t be pretty and that’s pretty clear from every jacquerie of the past…

TaxPayer

January 6th, 2011
8:25 pm

SoCo,

I agree with your list of requirements for contractors but it is a two-way street there. The military also needs to have something a little more concrete to share with contractors than, “well, I want the best and it needs to be better than anything else out there including whatever we come up with in twenty years and it needs to be ready soon no matter what it costs and it needs to be built in this particular state in order to get enough votes and this state and this state…” On second thought, we should let China build whatever we need because we already know they’re the lowest bidder and their work is as good as anything we do here.

Mary Elizabeth

January 6th, 2011
8:27 pm

md @ 8:20

“Ensuring education on the front end would cure a lot of what ails us on the back end.”
—————————————————————————-

Early childhood education intervention ( 3 and 4 year old pre-school) is one of the critical programs to helping insure long-range success. That program, however, is now being cut in large part from Georgia’s educational budget.

Del

January 6th, 2011
8:27 pm

So weasel gates sends another reinforced Marine Corps Battalion into Afghanistan because they’ve been getting the job done, while stabbing them in the back. Shades of Robert STRANGE McNamara another Secretary of Defense idiot in a Democrat administration.

md

January 6th, 2011
8:28 pm

Mary,

I equate it to giving a child an allowance……tie that allowance to doing chores and the child learns the value of earning the allowance. Give that same child an allowance with no conditions, and that child learns the it is entitled to an allowance. Long term, which is better?

Common Sense isn't very Common

January 6th, 2011
8:29 pm

Hillbilly Deluxe@8:01 pm

I understand what you are saying and agree to a point.

Many 1099 employees are also renters and will NOT pay income taxes unless forced to (the IRS would have to hire many more to enforce those rules). If the money is taken when the employee is paid it would then become the employees responsibility to file to get their money BACK or to pay the under payments).
But like with W2 employees claiming more dependants than they have it is a problem in the amount of people NOT paying what is required by law.
At least with a W2 employee you can go to their address or current employer. Some 1099s float from company to company so they are harder to track.

The gov’t like all gov’ts forecast revenues and plan accordingly or NOT LOL.

kind of like having payment liabilities of $3,000 a month and getting layed off and living off UI benefits.

Southern Comfort

January 6th, 2011
8:30 pm

Del

I’ve never claimed to be an expert on Marine Corps infantry operations. I merely pointed to an article that talked about the cost overruns in relation to the EFV. Unlike you, I don’t think the logic behind cutting that program had anything to do with DADT. How can you be serious about cutting the budget and leave a program on the books with delays and overruns going back to the 1980’s and that vehicle may not even be of great use for future Marines?

I have no problem with investing money in technology and equipment that will greatly enable our military to maintain the strength and presence we already have. However, I have a problem with continuously funneling money into a bottomless pit with little to no ROI. Cost overruns may have been the norm when programs existed that developed the SR-71, the M1-A1 Abrams, and other goodies. However, the huge difference between then and now is more than 8 million fewer taxpayers contributing to those programs in the form of taxes because they are not working.

If you read the link I posted earlier, there was even a retired Marine Lt. Col who talked about the Marines getting too involved with the high tech stuff instead of just being Marines. Maybe you should talk to him. He’s probably more of a Marine Corps infantry operations expert than I am.

md

January 6th, 2011
8:31 pm

“Early childhood education intervention ( 3 and 4 year old pre-school) is one of the critical programs to helping insure long-range success. That program, however, is now being cut in large part from Georgia’s educational budget.”

And there in lies the problem as we can only afford a finite number of programs…………pick your poison on which ones to fund.

md

January 6th, 2011
8:35 pm

A finite number of programs goes back to my question of “how many programs do we put in place for those that choose not to participate?”

If we have limited funds, we need to make sure we are not wasting them with shoddy programs. If one understands that assistance is tied to education, I’m willing to bet it becomes a priority.

josef nix

January 6th, 2011
8:37 pm

Mary Elizabeth
@ 8:27
The focus of my work this year is developing strategies to bring those kindergartners who did not have pre-school to the level of those who did (on which the kindergarten curriculum is now predicated). The gap between the two is a chasm. The lack of that early intervention was NOT the parents’ fault. There simply were not enough seats funded to meet the demand. Believe me, the efforts those parents went to to obtain a seat for their children, and the ultimate failure to obtain one, is the stuff of a tragedy. Roughly 15-20% of our kindergartners fall into this category. Our middle and upper middle class parents could buy a seat in a private program. At age 5, we have already set ourselves up for another generation of the cycle of poverty in the working class.

It’s not hard to tell those days when the frustration gets a little tough. I come in here spitting, hissing and cussing!

Hillbilly Deluxe

January 6th, 2011
8:39 pm

The gov’t like all gov’ts forecast revenues and plan accordingly or NOT LOL

That’s another place I think they screw up. Instead of spending what they think they are going to have, why not spend what they actually have. In other words, this years spending comes from last years income. Of course, given the system we have now and the shape it’s in, it’d take a good 100 years to phase that in.

Del

January 6th, 2011
8:40 pm

SoCo, I’ve been there done that so I don’t have any need to talk with anybody to formulate my opinions. Evidently, you’re dependent on other sources beyond your own experiences, so being absent from your own experienced based knowledge please don’t comment on my posts, particularly when you put my comments in a quote without addressing me by my name.

Common Sense isn't very Common

January 6th, 2011
8:42 pm

josef nix@8:37 pm

It’s not hard to tell those days when the frustration gets a little tough. I come in here spitting, hissing and cussing!
—————–

Not our Josef?

I’m shocked, shocked I tell ya

josef nix

January 6th, 2011
8:47 pm

common sense

Oh, shut up!

Common Sense isn't very Common

January 6th, 2011
8:48 pm

moi?

Mary Elizabeth

January 6th, 2011
8:54 pm

md @ 8:28

I agree with you completely as far as the example of allowance that you have stated. It is the using of that basic trusim you stated through your example to justify thinking broader than allowances that is problematic for me in your thinking, or at least, as I have perceived your thinking to be.

Let me give you a real example from my educational life experience. I taught 16 years at an all black suburban high school. Students were reading in 9th grade from grade levels 4 – 16+ because of the failure in the system (which I gave you earlier this evening). One half – or about 250 kids yearly – were reading on 6th grade level and below. Those scores were equally true with 10, 11, and 12th graders.

I taught a course of SAT prep and college level prep to Juniors and Seniors in high school. But my Reading Dept. also taught a Personalized Reading course for those students who were 3 or more grades below their year in school. A peer teacher taught those classes.

All of our classes in our Reading Dept. were elective so that if the students did not sign up, we were out of a job. At one time, our dept. was one of the biggest in the state, with 3 reading specialists and 2 reading paras to help students in a high school of about 1700 students. We offered morning tutorials and lunch tutorials and after school tutorials during the course of my 16 years there. I never had a problem with students wanting to enroll in any of our classes because they wanted to improve themselves and we helped them believe that they could improve themselves. Though we were detailed in knowing their specific, individual reading test scores, underneath that precision, they knew we cared deeply for them and that we knew we were there to make sure they improved and became all they could in life. That comes from love, not judgment. No one was concerned about the “discipline of allowance to chores” thinking; it was purely based on I believe in you and I know you will be motivated of your own volition to improve, and that is what happened. All of our classes were filled every semester, and students were on waiting lists many years, in all the years I was there.

BTW, I hope this testimony disputes some very ugly racial stereotypical thinking that I was reading on this blog about black people a few days ago. That thinking was so untrue based on my experiences. I found black kids hungry to improve and to learn of their own free will. And they were so grateful just to have someone to care enough to help them improve – with no strings attached. And by the way, I had no discipline problems in my classes. They knew I cared and that we were all there to insure their academic growth. No need for “allowance and reward” type of thinking. My kids were self-motivated for the most part with few exceptions.

josef nix

January 6th, 2011
8:59 pm

Mary Elizabeth
I taught in such a school as you describe. Latin was not in the curriculum. Some of the kids found out that I knew it and asked if I would tutor them in it. I had 53 kids come in at 7 a.m. to take advantage of it. Oh, yes, and the reading scores went up for them!

Matti

January 6th, 2011
9:01 pm

jo nix,

Regarding your statements about early education, and the difference it makes in lives of those little ones, and their ability to care for themselves and contribute to society over the next 60 years, I have to say this:

The advantage to our entire state of educating ALL our children (early and well) is not only obvious, but it could not possibly BE more obvious if it were a giant Chic Fil A cow humping the Big Chicken at Noon with the live, eye-team copter cam hovering overhead and broadcasting live!

However, this simple, meaningful, HUMONGOUS ROI initiative is poo-poo’ed by the conservatives of this state as pointless, and they’d rather not “waste” their money on schools when there are boat ramps to build on fish ponds for important goobernatorial friends. In short, they LIKE the system we have now: a permanent underclass mired in ignorance and a few select good ol’ boys (and their carpetbagger friends) who enjoy Georgia’s good life on the golf courses and prime waterfront hideaways, cleaned and maintained by immigrants whose green cards may or may not be legit. Don’t rock the boat, josef, or they might just throw you overboard and send their lackey sheriff away with a cold one when he comes poking around with a question or two.

Mary Elizabeth

January 6th, 2011
9:05 pm

Josef @ *:37

I agree with everything you said – including not the parents fault – and I commend you for your wonderful efforts for the kids. I am not surprised at all at your dedication.

md @ 8:35

Glad you support education – esp. early childhood educational intervention. That is probably THE most important program to keep kids from having a reading range from 4 – 16 grades in grade 9. There would not be such a wide span if early intervention were practiced.

Mary Elizabeth

January 6th, 2011
9:06 pm

Getting a little shopworn – think I will sign off for the evening. Goodnight all.

Mick

January 6th, 2011
9:09 pm

Mary elizabeth & josef

There’s a popular documentary out there called “waiting for superman”. In reality superman never shows up to teach, stop crime or anything else. However, clark kent-mild mannered reporter, shows up everyday to offer a helping hand behind the scenes in the guise of teachers, police and many others who are now being demonized for public service. Many of us realize your contributions, like the story’s just told, and we vociferously thank you for it..

Matti

January 6th, 2011
9:11 pm

What Mick said!!!

josef nix

January 6th, 2011
9:12 pm

matti
As you can see, there are times when I’m in your camp!

Seriously, though, and I’ve posted this before. When the Great White Chief of Mississippi Theodore G. Bilbo vetoed the black education funding back at the turn of the last century, he said, “why waste money on his education when the only result is to spoil a good field hand and make an insolent cook.” Well, yes, that pack down at the state house here at the beginning of this century are much of the same line of thought. And it’s not just a white, Republican thing, either…once when I forewent my arrogrance and went begging with hands out for a few shekels to provide extra help tutorial for our latino children, I was told by the melanin rich that, essentially, they’ll drop out anyway. They’re illegals and won’t be going to college. They were not very happy when the white liberal popped up with the Bilbo quote…but, it was the same thing…

Southern Comfort

January 6th, 2011
9:13 pm

so being absent from your own experienced based knowledge please don’t comment on my posts, particularly when you put my comments in a quote without addressing me by my name.

Del

If you don’t want comments on your post, then don’t post them on an open blog. The good thing about life and being an American is that we all come from different backgrounds and different experiences. I don’t have the same experiences as you do, but I do have experiences in budgeting and avoiding overruns.

The point I was trying to make was not a point based in Marine infantry experience. I would never attempt to make a point based on that because that is not my base of knowledge. However, I do have years of experience in budgets and finance, and feel that I CAN make comments from that angle based on my experience.

Whatever your personal problem is with Gates, Obama, Mullen and whomever else is your problem and not mine. You linked the budget cuts to DADT. I simply stated that I think it was more of a financial decision. The only people who know the TRUE message behind the cuts are the people who decided to make them.

I guess you’re one of those fiscal responsible people who want fiscal restraint unless it’s a program of interest to them. I’ll make sure to avoid commenting on your posts in the future. I don’t want you to get upset if I don’t agree with something you’re saying. Have a good evening.

josef nix

January 6th, 2011
9:17 pm

Aw! Thank y’all for the kind words! And while I’m not fishing for them, they do mean a LOT when that time comes when we in the schools ask ourselves, “does ANYbody give a sh*t?”

You Distort/We Deride

January 6th, 2011
9:17 pm

I seem to remember a time not so long ago when a very famous and empowered Republican uttered the words, “Deficits don’t matter”. Now the sheep have flip-flopped. It’s all about political expediency for you folks, though you claim to take the ethical high ground.

Matti

January 6th, 2011
9:22 pm

jo nix,

I am always pro-education. As Ron White says, “you can’t fix stupid,” but we can sure as hell fix ignorance, and we can surely help most every young person find his or her own pathway to becoming a contributing, self-supporting adult by enhancing the skills and aptitudes the Good Lord alotted.

That being said, I HAVE NO CAMP. I’ve come to accept that I am alone in this wilderness, observing, and sometimes howling about what I see, but I no longer imagine I have a camp, a side, or anyone guarding me or my interests. (DAMN I hate all this lucidity! Life was so much easier when I believed the BS!!!)

Common Sense isn't very Common

January 6th, 2011
9:25 pm

It would be interesting if all depts had to pick their must have programs/projects, then their need but can waits, then like to’s, and last their if I were rich programs.

Then defend them with hard numbers (jobs, attainable goals for education, etc.) Also not allow the representatives to vote on projects in their HOME state. That way you could do away with lobbyists as the reps themselves would be forced to lobby.

Nah it would never work as the back office deals would choke a horse LOL

Del

January 6th, 2011
9:27 pm

SoCo, It’s not a matter of being offended of replies to comments I post on an open blog, it’s an aversion to someone who lacks personnel experience and attempts to make up for it by posting links they postulate as proof of points they themselves couldn’t make from their own experience. Condescension doesn’t cut it with me lad, so don’t even think you pack gear to try it. Have a nice evening.

Common Sense isn't very Common

January 6th, 2011
9:28 pm

Matti@9:22 pm

I believe in thorazine and scotch LOL.

doesn’t it feel better when you stop beating your head against the brick wall of STUPID

josef nix

January 6th, 2011
9:28 pm

matti

I keep trying to tell ya, Sweet, you do, too have a camp! It’s the ones without a camp!

And thanks for the line for me to use with you in the future when I’m taking a poke at ya, It’ll be “I see you’re howling in the wilderness!”

Seriously, though, I DO know the feeling and I’ve become quite comfortable here in the wilderness…

Common Sense isn't very Common

January 6th, 2011
9:31 pm

josef nix@9:28 pm

And thanks for the line for me to use with you in the future when I’m taking a poke at ya, It’ll be “I see you’re howling in the wilderness!”
—————-

But is she wearing clothes in the wilderness??

Love ya Matti

Paulo977

January 6th, 2011
9:32 pm

josef @9:17pm

“does ANYbody give a sh*t?”… Oh God don’t I know that ‘desperate ‘ feeling!

Re: …The Common Good ..this is what Deepak Chopra has to say..”As long as you’re giving you will be receiving” Take heart !

Southern Comfort

January 6th, 2011
9:34 pm

Del

The link I posted to was in reference to the point I was making from my experience. So, now you’re going to question whether or not I know anything about budgeting? Did you even read the link? The part I posted from the retired Lt. Col was his words and not mine. If he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, then how did he get to Lt. Col? It’s not a matter of being condescending or lacking experience. If that vehicle was finished without major cost overruns, we wouldn’t be having this conversation and it would not be on the chopping block.

But during the two decades that the vehicle has been in development, the range of antiship missiles has shot up to 75 miles, making Navy vessels vulnerable if they tried to bring in Marines to attack more sophisticated adversaries.

Mr. Gates has also said that a flat hull, needed for the vehicle to skim the surface of the water at 20 to 25 knots, would have exposed it to another threat — roadside bombs — once it came ashore.

But after years of breakdowns and poor reliability in testing, program officials said new prototypes had finally seemed on the verge of meeting minimal reliability standards.

Navy officials have suggested that Marines would only undertake assaults after enemy defenses had been largely subdued through weeks of bombing by ships and planes. But retired Marines say it is naïve to think that the military would always have such a luxury of time or that bombing works that well.

If you had read the article, assuming you didn’t, you would have seen why I said it appears to be budgetary. After 20+ years they have prototypes that are on the VERGE of meeting minimal reliability standards. How long before it’s ready for use? How much more money will General Dynamics need? Could that money be better used on basic equipment that will help Marines on the ground in Afghanistan? I’m not questioning personnel matters, I’m questioning financial matters. If you don’t understand that, then that’s on you. I’ve stated my case.

josef nix

January 6th, 2011
9:36 pm

PAULO
Are you a Deepak Chopra fan?

Common

No. The Howling in the Wildnerness wear hair shirts!

TaxPayer

January 6th, 2011
9:37 pm

Condescension doesn’t cut it with me lad, so don’t even think you pack gear to try it.

Isn’t that cute.

Southern Comfort

January 6th, 2011
9:38 pm

NoCom

You need to cut back on those. You’re gonna kill a brain cell or two. LOL!!!!

Paulo977

January 6th, 2011
9:38 pm

Josef
@9:36PM
Is this atrick question?

barking frog

January 6th, 2011
9:40 pm

I’ve stated my case
———————————–
While in the Air Force I had a flight sergeant
named Case. Such an *ss. He named his son
Justin.

Common Sense isn't very Common

January 6th, 2011
9:41 pm

Southern Comfort@9:38 pm

NoCom

You need to cut back on those. You’re gonna kill a brain cell or two. LOL!!!!
————————-

It’s how I deal with STUPID lol.

I will eventually become a REGRESSIVE

TaxPayer

January 6th, 2011
9:42 pm

I see the GOP’s little constitution ritual cost the taxpayers 1.1 million dollars. That’s the way to cut that deficit.

TaxPayer

January 6th, 2011
9:43 pm

While in the Air Force I had a flight sergeant
named Case. Such an *ss. He named his son
Justin.

His name was Justin Ass!

Southern Comfort

January 6th, 2011
9:46 pm

NoCom

I couldn’t use your method. My last three brain cells are very important. LOL!!!!!

Common Sense isn't very Common

January 6th, 2011
9:46 pm

defeshyts don’t matter

Dusty

January 6th, 2011
9:46 pm

Well, here we are living in the finest country in the world, the best fed, schooled and the best health facilites and there’s crying and weeping over our terrible situation! Ingrates! We have a debt that will harm our children more than not having a kindergarten or tutoring or a doc/at/the /door program.

How many here had kindergarten, free lunch and organic school lunches before you were in first grade? You Elizabeth? You Josef? It is amazing how people fought in WWII and became the “finest generation” when many of them had little more instruction than high school without any kndergarten. It is possible to not have the finest of all things and suceed in life.

When you have a 15 trillion $ debt, push has come to shove. EVERYTHING in government is going to have to be cut. All the sobbing and crying in the world will not cut a cent from the national debt.

Face it folks. We are not talking about leaving off the pickles at the picnic. We are talking about having bread and water at the picnic. Can you not see the whole picture?

Responsibility is going to shift back to the families. It has to. Government can no longer be the wet nurse, the home nurse, the remedial studies, the dietition or the provider. The money for those things is ALREADY GONE. Repeat after me: Independence! Frugality! Self dependence! And above all, APPRECIATION for what you have in the USA. Now act smart and remember.

Common Sense isn't very Common

January 6th, 2011
9:48 pm

well I could have said become a part of the naval service but some might have taken offense

barking frog

January 6th, 2011
9:49 pm

TaxPayer

January 6th, 2011
9:43 pm
His name was Justin Ass!
—————————–
Justin Case he was.

barking frog

January 6th, 2011
9:52 pm

The Secretary of Defense must become
the Secretary of Defence for our protection
from illegalaliens.

TaxPayer

January 6th, 2011
9:54 pm

The Republicans sure didn’t waste any time giving their constituency a fresh dose of their trickle down economic policy. Then again, it is what they voted for so it must be what they wanted.

Matti

January 6th, 2011
9:54 pm

Dusty,

“Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?” Preznit GWB…

If you’d pull your head out of moth balls long enough to look around, you’d see that having an ignorant, illiterate, unskilled populace — while other nations are educating their children — is SINKING us. I guess as long as we all wave flag on the fourth and salute apple pie, you’re okay with that? As the kids say, WhatEVS!

Common Sense isn't very Common

January 6th, 2011
9:55 pm

But what about Deplane?

josef nix

January 6th, 2011
9:56 pm

SoCo
St Elsewhere….

PAULO
Not a trick question…I was just wondering…personally I find him fascinating…

Soothsayer

January 6th, 2011
9:56 pm

Jay, this is just another “feel-good” story to hoodwink the public into thinking that we aren’t really the military bullies the rest of the World sees us as. Just more “sound-bite” propaganda so the restive public can believe that the lion’s share of their tax dollars will not be spent on a military industrial complex gone wild. Yes, $100 bn or is it $78 bn, yes that’s what we need! Get a good night’s sleep little sheeple!

Common Sense isn't very Common

January 6th, 2011
9:57 pm

Now time for the daily nominations for the glass navel award.

Mick

January 6th, 2011
9:58 pm

dusty

I guess your ok with exempting the 2% that hold 95% of all the counties wealth from the sacrificing…

josef nix

January 6th, 2011
10:01 pm

DUSTY

I had a priviledged childhood and have had a life full of those things many only dream of. And I owe something to society and G-d for that blessing. Why should I not want others to have it, too?

Scout

January 6th, 2011
10:07 pm

josef:

Are you old enough to know what Monday’s used to be ?

Southern Comfort

January 6th, 2011
10:11 pm

Now time for the daily nominations for the glass navel award.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ASQy4KCD9CY/SehP-NGTcSI/AAAAAAAAAHs/6wBx3DYMPAk/s200/Dumbass+of+the+week.jpg

Paulo977

January 6th, 2011
10:13 pm

Josef @9:56pm ..

I think his concept of “the law of pure potentiality ” is powerful and helpful, especially for teachers. I attended a lecture of his when he was here a few years ago in Marietta

Dusty

January 6th, 2011
10:18 pm

Matti,

Our chillun is learning, honey, and if yours aint, just maybe it aint the school. If they hear the same depressing dribble you post here every day, I would not be surprised.

I do like apple pie better than sack cloth and ashes and a little patriotism doesn’t hurt. I value my children (and those of everybody else) Only two went to kindergarten. They have seven college degrees among them and we are not rich. Not one had ever attended a remedial program or had a food stamps meal at home.. So my family is lucky? Yes,and so is everybody else born and living in this USA. Let us not ruin our children with debt and depression. They don’t deserve that.

I care about all children but did you notice? We have a national debt that will be loaded on your children and mine. Be sure you teach them self reliance with little money because what you are doing NOW is taking their money from the future. Yeah, that’s smart.

Dusty

January 6th, 2011
10:20 pm

Well, Josef, so did I and I did not go to kindergarten. You did not answer. Did you go to kindergarten?

Dusty

January 6th, 2011
10:25 pm

And Josef,

How much debt do you want laid on your children and their children? Did your family pass that on to you? I prefer to pass on thanks and blessings too but without a demoralizing debt.

TaxPayer

January 6th, 2011
10:25 pm

I see Dusty is back with her national debt tale yet she backs away as soon as I mention that her fair share of just one trillion of that debt comes to over $7200.00. Call or write your Republican congressman and demand that taxes be raised across the board on all tax filers so we can do our patriotic duty and pay down that debt so Dusty can sleep better at night.

Common Sense isn't very Common

January 6th, 2011
10:28 pm

SoCo

That’s 2 votes for me LOL

jm

January 6th, 2011
10:30 pm

“Did you go to kindergarten?” I’m just nosing in, and going to but out. Isn’t whether someone went to Kindergarten a pretty lame “*****” measuring contest? How about SAT scores, or GPA perhaps….

Cheers folks.

Common Sense isn't very Common

January 6th, 2011
10:31 pm

Dick Cheney says defsehits don’t matter

Talk about needing thorazine and scotch, might improve his aim

Common Sense isn't very Common

January 6th, 2011
10:32 pm

jm@10:30 pm

No measuring contests allowed lol

josef nix

January 6th, 2011
10:32 pm

SoCo
Got it!

Scout
Yes, I do. I also know what Jan. 9th is!

PAULO
I agree on his views and teaching…

DUSTY
To answer your question. I am Jewish, remember, and from a long line of rabbis…I didn’t go to kindergarten. I went to Granddaddy’s study and began formal studies at age 3 as per tradition (without our traditions, you know, our lives would be as shaky as a fiddler on the roof)

Scout

January 6th, 2011
10:33 pm

………….. and while we are talking about cutting the defense budget while sending 1400 more Marines to Afghanistan may we ponder a few words from Winston Churchill :

“How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerouis in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy, improvident habits, slovenly systems o fagriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Phophet rule or live.

A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property – either as a child, a wife, or a concubine – must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.

Individual Muslims may show splendid qualities. Thousands become the brave loyal soldiers of the Queen: all know how to die.

The influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytising faith.”

Scout

January 6th, 2011
10:34 pm

josef:

Tell me ………… what were Mondays “and” January 9th !!

Dusty

January 6th, 2011
10:35 pm

Taxpayer,

When I depend on you to tell me what taxes to pay and what letters to write, I’ll be crazy enough to be a liberal. Fortunately, such a deplorable condition has not happened.

md

January 6th, 2011
10:35 pm

Folks would be wise to learn the terms finite and infinite.

One applies to the funds we have available and the other applies to the funds many think we have available. And there is lies the problem, for they wish to give way more than we have to give……..

josef nix

January 6th, 2011
10:40 pm

DUSTY

Money for education is not a debt on the future. It is an investment…

“When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams — this may be madness. To seek treasure where there is only trash. Too much sanity may be madness — and maddest of all: to see life as it is, and not as it should be!” — Man of la Mancha

Doggone/GA

January 6th, 2011
10:41 pm

“for they wish to give way more than we have to give……..”

Indeed…so now how do we explain that in a way they will understand to our borrow and spend “conservative” friends?

Scout

January 6th, 2011
10:45 pm

Headline (NY Times) : “The Islam That Hard-Liners Hate”

Ah, the wonderful, peaceful world of Islam.

http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/the-islam-that-hard-liners-hate/?hp

josef nix

January 6th, 2011
10:45 pm

Time to call it quits for the night…gotta test the l’il b*ggers tomorrow to see what progress they’ve made toward meeting the curriculum objectives as per the standardized test…yep, the kindergartners…

Southern Comfort

January 6th, 2011
10:49 pm

Ok josef…

NoCom

I’ve been itching to give that award out, but I haven’t found anyone truly worthy of it yet. There’s been a few close calls though.

md

January 6th, 2011
10:51 pm

“Indeed…so now how do we explain that in a way they will understand to our borrow and spend “conservative” friends?”

Now that is indeed the question, and it applies to all the misfits…………but, they are of the type that need the anvil to the head.

One order of Crisis management coming up……………….

Dusty

January 6th, 2011
10:52 pm

JOSEF,

Your Jewish traditions are wonderful. Mine were Christian. I was baptized and carried to church and Sunday School as soon as I could walk. My mother taught Sunday School and my father was a Steward. We always had devotional material at home and Bible study books on our bookshelves. My father practiced medicine in a small town and did not receive pay from many of his patients. They did not have the money. Some brought whatever they had from the farm or from home . He treated everyone who came no matter what.. I learned about giving and concern and love from my parents. THEY sent me to school and took care of me in every way. They would have had it no other way. Yes, I was blessed too and I wish that for every other child.

Common Sense isn't very Common

January 6th, 2011
10:53 pm

A few here qualify especially now that the nut cutting is starting. I wanted you to cut everybody ELSEs programs NOT MINE

LMAO

Dusty

January 6th, 2011
10:58 pm

Goodnight, Josef. I understand quite well that education is an investment. That is true for several things. But the debt is NOW and will continue on top of the investment. Take care of your school kiddies and I know you will . They are going to need a lot of help to unload what is ahead of them.

md

January 6th, 2011
10:59 pm

“I wanted you to cut everybody ELSEs programs NOT MINE ”

Let’s not forget the rich…………don’t cut my program and tax the hell out of the rich……yeh, that’s the ticket.

(That may be the easy way…………but not necessarily the “right” way)

Common Sense isn't very Common

January 6th, 2011
10:59 pm

SoCo@10:49 pm

I’ve been itching to give that award out, but I haven’t found anyone truly worthy of it yet. There’s been a few close calls though.

—————————–

I am SOOOOOOOOOOO honored

Southern Comfort

January 6th, 2011
11:01 pm

now that the nut cutting is starting

Common Sense isn't very Common

January 6th, 2011
11:03 pm

And they will be using meat cleavers not scapels LOL

Southern Comfort

January 6th, 2011
11:04 pm

Come on man!!!! That’s just brutal…

Common Sense isn't very Common

January 6th, 2011
11:05 pm

md

I do agree with you about the easy vs the right way as I stated in my discussion with HD earlier

Common Sense isn't very Common

January 6th, 2011
11:06 pm

Start with a few good men?

Southern Comfort

January 6th, 2011
11:11 pm

Tread lightly so you don’t get your head bitten off…

Common Sense isn't very Common

January 6th, 2011
11:16 pm

who do YOU think I was refering to????

LOL

Southern Comfort

January 6th, 2011
11:25 pm

Don’t know if you had anyone specific in mind. Just giving you a warning based on my past experiences.

Granny Godzilla

January 7th, 2011
7:25 am

And John Boehner still can’t name a specific budget cut.

What the hell has he been doing for the last 60 days?

I really think he should have shown up to work the first day PREPARED.

Del

January 7th, 2011
7:33 am

SoCo,

You stated your case…the problem is you state your case from cut and paste and by doing so you’re only accepting the opinion of someone else. You accept it based on a viewpoint that’s politically convenient for you and not from any personal knowledge about the subject. I’ve been around a little while, so I can see through it.

Common Sense isn't very Common

January 7th, 2011
7:34 am

Granny – I think it is more won’t vs can’t

stands for decibels

January 7th, 2011
7:35 am

mornin’.

The president is not going to make cutting defense his only or even his major deficit-reducing effort. Between now and his State of the Union address, I suspect we’ll see a string of similar announcements, so that he can tell the American people that he is doing his part to close the deficit and challenging the Republicans to do the same.

Late to the topic, but all I can say at this point is that I haven’t seen any analysis of the SecDef’s announcement that challenges Jay’s presumptions of what this all means for the White House’s strategy, so his take makes sense to me.

I’ll add that making the first major announcement about DoD spending might be something of a sop to the progressives, who obviously aren’t uniformly thrilled about William Daley being named CoS.

stands for decibels

January 7th, 2011
7:37 am

mornin’ Del, Common, Granny. What’s shakin’?

Common Sense isn't very Common

January 7th, 2011
7:40 am

The preemptive strikes by the WH have just started, Boehner has not said what he wants to cut so if the WH reaches the magic number first it might just get bloody

Granny Godzilla

January 7th, 2011
7:42 am

Stands

Good Morning to you!

It’s Friday and tonight is family steak night.

Even the troll can’t tick me off today!

TaxPayer

January 7th, 2011
7:43 am

Even the troll can’t tick me off today!

Which one.

Southern Comfort

January 7th, 2011
7:45 am

Del

The case or point I’m making is in relation to cost overruns. Even if I worked on that specific project, I would use cut and paste. I can pretty much guess that any info directly related to the costs are classified. If you’ve noticed, even when discussing immigration, which is what I do for a living, I use open internet information. I am not going to use classified or official information just to make a point here. I’m not losing my job just to post information I know of first hand.

Here’s another cut and paste. Would you consider this opinion or fact? Is this a reliable source for facts.

The Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle program, which has long languished under cost and scheduling overruns due to unreliability during testing, now has doubled in price and won’t bear fruit until 2015, according to an internal defense report.

Program acquisition unit costs per vehicle are now expected to total $22.3 million each, up from $12.3 million estimated last August, according to briefing slides from a March 1 stakeholder report obtained by Marine Corps Times.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2007/03/mcefv070314/

And that amount is from 2007.

Good morning everyone.

stands for decibels

January 7th, 2011
7:48 am

Totally off topic, just a thought.

Saw this bit in the NYTimes entitled “A Little-Known Strategy for Cutting Mortgage Payments”.

It describes something I had, honestly, never heard of before–the practice of allowing mortgage holders to pay a decent chunk of the principal (>$5000, apparently) and recalculating the remaining payments on the loan accordingly. The bank charges a modest fee for the rather modest service, but it’s nothing approaching what you pay for a refinance, since, after all, you are not making a “new” loan.

Here’s what stuck out in the piece:

Lenders, which would probably rather earn thousands of dollars in closing fees from refinancing your loan, are not obliged to recast mortgages.

And here’s the difference between a Democratic-controlled House and a Republican-controlled one. If I get a thousand or so not-stupid people together and complain to Democratic representatives that maybe a bill ought to either encourage lenders to do such things with a carrot, or even require them with a stick, and that such legislation should mandate the kinds of fees that could be charged? it might actually happen.

With a GOP controlled house, there’s no use even trying. (IMHO. YMMV.)

stands for decibels

January 7th, 2011
7:49 am

aw crap, dead threaded. Upstairs to see what Fat Tony’s up to now…

Mary Elizabeth

January 7th, 2011
8:07 am

Mick @ 9:09 pm. and Matti @ 9:11 p.m.

Thank you both for your kind and supportive remarks regarding teaching last evening. Much appreciated!

and josef – I loved your Man of La Mancha quote!

Dusty @ 9:46

You seem like a nice, authetic lady to me. Even though we have different political philosophies, I want you to know that I support paying down our national debt for our children and their children.

I am simply astounded by what I perceive as a Republican plan to have run up the national deficit, deliberately, in order to do away with social programs called entitlements, as much as possible.
(See my posting at 11:12 a.m. I mentioned wars, and a climate of greed, but I failed to mention the huge tax cuts for the wealthy that esp. ran up the deficit (at 11:12 a.m.)

So while I support cutting into America’s debt for future generations, I am still going to speak strongly for the continuation of social programs such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and now even public education, and some form of government (non-profit) intervention in national health care. I believe these programs make America a more humane nation, and Americans more humane as individuals, and that they do not make people dependent, as is the popular talking point against them.

I believe every American has the essential right to a good public education and good medical care which will be guaranteed through federal intervention into profit centered insurance companies. I do not believe Americans need to be fending for themselves – individually – in terms of their educational advancement and their medical care. Likewise, I believe that as people become old that they should have a government safety net through Social Security and Medicare.

In other words, I am appalled at what Republicans have tried to do to dehumanize this nation in terms of its social programs and I am going to be speaking in favor of them relentlessly to keep our nation humane, as I see it. We can do this, and still cut the budget, if we do not buy into Republican spin in order to enhance their self-oriented goals.

Our nation, and perhaps the world, is pivoting in outlook on the difference between two fundamental ways of seeing oneself in relation to others – inordinate self-interest or communal interest. Since I spent my professional life, as I described last night, giving so much of myself to others – over and beyond what I was simply paid to do – I have no patience whatsoever with the newer trend of greedy self-interest by some on the Right. (Yourself excluded, of course!)

TnGelding

January 7th, 2011
8:27 am

Gosh a whole $78 billion! Do you think it will render us defenseless? Good grief! Get real.

Riaw07

January 7th, 2011
8:41 am

Prekindergarten programs are expanding rapidly but evidence on their effects is limited. Using rich data from Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, we estimate the effects of prekindergarten on children’s school readiness. We find that prekindergarten is associated with higher reading and mathematics skills at school entry, but also higher levels of behavior problems. By the spring of first grade, estimated effects on academic skills have largely dissipated, but the behavioral effects persist.–Katherine A. Magnusona, Christopher Ruhmb and Jane Waldfogel

Federal Worker

January 7th, 2011
9:11 am

I’m doing my part to cut the deficit. No pay raises for the next two years, and probably the work budget will be cut back to 2008 levels. So what are the rest of you doing, aside from the teachers, who get their pay cut by virtue of furlough days?

And before any neanderthal starts griping, this is my day off after I’ve worked four 10-hour days, so don’t give me that crap about blogging on work time.

SecDef Gates announces surprising cuts in defense budget

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SecDef Gates announces surprising cuts in defense budget

238 comments Add your comment

About Jay Bookman

Search this blog

Recent Posts

Archives

More from the AJC

Blogroll

FairTax archive

Laffer Curve debunked

The House GOP budget

All AJC blogs »

Tell us what you think about the site

Subscribe »

Customer Care »

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Other Editions

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